(Abridged version Bonas Essay, W. Verweij) Prof.ir. Jacob Frederik Klinkhamer, architect and engineer (1854-1928) "In earlier centuries, master builders, engineers and architects were at once. Later they went their separate ways. In utility works, however, they have found each other again and one can say that these are the works in which the architect passes into the engineer and the engineer into the architect." This statement is typical of Klinkhamer and his conception of architecture. As an architect in Amsterdam and a professor in Delft, he stood at the foundation of utilitarian architecture in the Netherlands. The factory, which before 1900 was still seen as a technical issue that did not require an architect, gained aesthetic significance through, among other things, the attention Klinkhamer drew to it in his teaching at the Polytechnic School in Delft. He urged the future generation of Dutch architects to include - in their views on architecture - the factory as an object in the urban setting. He advocated an architecture, in which a balance between functionality and aesthetics is achieved. Sometimes he is the engineer, sometimes he is the architect, but as Klinkhamer himself points out, it is the combination of both that makes a builder a master builder. Youth and education (1854-1881) Jacob Klinkhamer grew up in Amsterdam. He was the son of Hendrik Abraham Klinkhamer (1810-1872) and Theresia Smaale (1817-1871). Hendrik Abraham was first superintendent at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In addition, he was a draughtsman. By the age of 18, Jacob had already lost both his parents. At that time he was still studying at the HBS. From then on, he was placed under the guardianship of his uncle Wijnand Klinkhamer, who was married to Jeannette Arentine Bredius. In 1873 he completed HBS and left for Dresden for a year, where he studied chemistry at the Polytechnic School. During this time he also made a trip through Germany with Geo Poggenbeek, an Amsterdam painter. After this experience abroad, he began his education at the Polytechnic School Delft. Klinkhamer was taught by Eugèn Gugel (theory of form and history), Jan Morre (construction technique), Eugène Lacomblé (modeling), Paul Tétar van Elven (drawing) and Adolf Lecomte (ornament drawing). He graduated as an architect on July 4, 1878, after which he worked as an assistant to Professor Gugel for three more years. Independent architect in Amsterdam In 1882, Klinkhamer returned to his native Amsterdam and established himself as an independent architect. He must have had quite a lot of financial security and useful contacts for such a choice. In 1883, he married Margaretha Elisabeth Bosscha. She was the daughter of Paulina Emilia van Kerkhoven and Prof. Dr. J. Bosscha. The Van Kerkhoven family was active in the Dutch East Indies in tea plantations and later in the construction of railroads. Through this connection, Klinkhamer had the opportunity to build overseas as well at the end of his period as an independent architect. He built the administration office for the Dutch East Indies Railway Company (1902) and a goods shed in Semarang (1910), a villa in Bandung (1903) and an administrator's residence in Sinabang (1913). In 1892 Bert Johan Ouëndag came to work for him, with whom he associated when he left for Delft in 1899 for a professorship at the Polytechnic School. Other architects who worked at the Klinkhamer & Ouëndag firm were A. van der Lee and C. Citroen. The firm was continued for a long time by Ouëndag's son. The stately monument versus the rural villa The first urban villas Klinkhamer designed were located within Amsterdam's ring of canals and later in the new urban expansion of the Kalf plan, today's Old South. Only from 1891 did he also design rural villas outside Amsterdam. Characteristic of Klinkhamer's oeuvre (and appropriate in his time) is the search for the right style, so that a building fits in with its surroundings and function. He did not design in a dominant personal style, but chose a style according to the type of assignment. In search of the right architecture for the factory building On June 19, 1883, a violent explosion destroyed the Muiden gunpowder factory of the Bredius family. Gunpowder factories were more often plagued by explosions and were then usually rebuilt. This time Klinkhamer was commissioned to rebuild the factory. In this he was advised by Jan Springer, Amsterdam's city architect. For Klinkhamer, this was an opportunity to gain experience in utility construction. In comparing Klinkhamer's factory designs with his public buildings (for example, his competition entries), it is striking that the facade design is always connected to the floor plan. In his public buildings, he adjusts the floor plan to achieve symmetry in the facade. Aesthetics outweigh functionality here. With a factory, however, functionality takes precedence, since the main purpose of a factory is an efficient production line and external appearance is a secondary function. Building for the railroad Klinkhamer also built for the railroads, both in the Netherlands and in Johannesburg and the Dutch East Indies. He received his first commission in 1895, and this became the first large building of public character that he was authorized to build. In 1897 and 1898 he built the stations in Baarn and Soest in the Gooi region and a station building in Soestdijk. Materials Klinkhamer built in brick. To absorb tensile forces in the facade, he used cast iron wall anchors. These also served as decoration. He used wood for roof structures and cast iron for railroad shelters. In facades of stately homes, he incorporated natural stone and slate for the roofs. He filled the space between the relief arch and the window frame with decorative brickwork made of glazed bricks. For Klinkhamer, Viollet le Duc and P.J.H. Cuypers were inspirational figures. His high esteem for Cuypers is evident from the speech, which he gave at Cuypers' promotion to Dr. in technical sciences. Design must be built from the functional nature of a material. He compared the difficulties that Viollet-le-Duc overcame in his time with the application of iron in a new form language with the search for the right form language for reinforced concrete: "The predominance of iron as a building material demanded a new form language, through which aesthetic conflicts were created, such as we see happening again today with reinforced concrete". Delft professorship After thirteen years of training and seventeen years of thriving architectural practice, Klinkhamer entered a new phase of his career when he was asked to become a professor in Delft. His view of the role that the structural engineering course should play was that it was about teaching "sound principles. Thereafter, the student further develops into a "master builder" during his career. Students of Klinkhamer and Evers, the first generation of modern functionalists, made an important contribution to the Dutch architectural landscape of the twentieth century. They include B. Bijvoet, J. Duiker and Henri Maclaine Pont. Side activities In addition to his activities as an architect and teacher, Klinkhamer has been active throughout his career with the Maatschappij tot Bevordering van de Bouwkunst. He was chairman of the Amsterdam department for a period and regularly judged competitions. He also frequently gave architectural advice on projects starting in 1903. He exhibited his work at several exhibitions, including the World's Fair in Antwerp in 1894.